TotalJobs.com have recently been kind enough to send me some exclusive information from their ‘Total Jobs Annual User Survey’ and there were some interesting facts to take from this in relation to jobseekers perceptions and expectations within the UK jobs market. Here are a few of the stats:
* While searching for a job, 47.36% have applied for 11 or more jobs. Of all the applicants, 36.44% have had zero interviews following their applications. I know a common complaint from recruiters is candidate who apply to EVERY single job out there and don’t tailor their cover letter. I’m guessing these stats might back that up. Over a third of applications to get no interviews is pretty shocking though and could suggest more time should be spent researching and tailoring job application forms, CV’s and cover letters. There are loads of sites out there which can help candidates with this. In fact there is loads of “career advice on the Totaljobs website at http://www.totaljobs.com/careers-advice. In the spirit of fairness I should also point out some other sites which have good career advice – including the government website.
* 22.95% are willing to compromise on pay but only 18.95% are willing to compromise on title. I found this one interesting; perception (your job title) over reality (how little you actually earn)! So the message to recruiters is big up the job title if the pay isn’t up to market rates. Also, 25% of jobseekers would compromise on location or even pay, but only 3.9% would compromise on their pension. Don’t get me wrong I know pensions are important – but the survey suggests 96% of people would turn down a job if the pension wasn’t right. It suggests they value the long term pension more than job title, location and getting a job that pays good money right now.
* Over half of jobseekers (54.95%) don’t feel like they were given enough support when looking for a job. I wanted to comment on this but wonder who these jobseekers were expecting support from. An employer who has made them redundant, government, education establishment? Total jobs have been working hard to collect more data on this matter which I am hoping to share with you in the coming months.
This data is from an internal survey that they don’t share with the public but for further information you can contact Caterina Masso (Marketing Manager), on email caterina.masso@totaljobs.com. Total Jobs do however run a series of other surveys throughout the year which are made available to the public and can be found on http://recruiter.totaljobs.com/barometer/home – where users can sign up to receive various stats and survey results.
Hi Louise
A recent survey of our own users at MyWorkSearch tells a similar story to this research, but the results even more dramatic. More than a third have made over 100 applications, but for 48 per cent this has translated into less than three interviews and, for a staggering 32 per cent, none or only one job interview. Over half of jobseekers are facing six months or more without a job and 30 per cent have been unemployed for more than 12 months. Although all ages are being affected by unemployment, the majority of respondents are over 45 years old and 47 per cent educated to graduate or post-graduate level, demonstrating that even qualifications and experience are no guarantee of a new job.
It’s also interesting to see with the TotalJobs research what people are willing to compromise on, in this case it appears to be pay rather than job title. We found more of our jobseekers taking up part-time or temporary work. Of those who have been fortunate enough to be offered a job, a third have accepted a part-time job offer, when only 13 per cent were in a part-time role before being made unemployed. Similarly just under half have taken an offer of temporary work when only a quarter described their previous employment as temporary.
Richard
Richard
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I’m not surprised that people are considering part time work when they wouldn’t in the past. I think that is what is accounting for the drop in unemployment rates!
A friend of mine was recently in the running for a new job in her field. After landing an extensive phone interview, she ultimately was not one of the final two candidates. The hiring director left her a nice voice mail explaining that she hadn’t made it into the final round of interviews, but mentioned “While you didn’t get this position, please take heart, as you were one of the top five candidates out of the 600 resumes we received.”